PC Chacko says most Delhi Congress leaders are in favour of alliance with AAP, says Sheila Dikshit not final authority to decide

Congress leader in-charge of Delhi, PC Chacko has told a news website that most Congress leaders in the national capital were in favour of forging an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to Outlook news website, Chacko said there were ‘six Congress presidents in Delhi including Sheila Dikshit and five of them are in favour of an alliance.” “Similarly, the 14 district committees are also all in favour of a pact. We are of the view that Congress alone cannot win in Delhi. The alliance is a policy decided by the working committee.”

Chacko’s comments came just days after Congress President Rahul Gandhi told his grass root workers in Delhi that they needed to ensure that his party won all seven seats in Delhi. This was widely viewed as a confirmation that both the Congress and the AAP will contest this year’s parliamentary polls separately. However, Chacko told Outlook, “Rahul Gandhi didn’t say that we are going alone in polls. He goes by working committee decisions.”

Kejriwal and his senior party colleagues have repeatedly been accusing the Congress and Dikshit of tacitly helping the BJP. But Chacko appeared to justify their frustration as he said, “They are also in a dilemma. What can they do if the state Congress chief issues statements on a daily basis that ‘we are not ready for alliance’? Despite their reservations and differences with Congress, they are willing for an alliance with us.”

Experts believe that in the event of a triangular contest, the BJP will benefit because of the division in the vote share of its rival parties.

Delhi has seven parliamentary seats that were all won by the BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. This year, the election to Delhi’s seven seats will be held on 12 May with the counting scheduled for 23 May.

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